1. Dr. Douglas R. McCoy Professor of Sociology Kaplan University Exploring the 1960’s: An Interdisciplinary Approach Week 8 – Institutionalize d Programs

2. Institutionalized Programs

3. Some of the programs that were institutionalized in the 1960s included welfare programs. What does the welfare program in the US mean to you? What do you think was the intent of welfare programs in the United States? Think about what life was like in the 60’s as you consider your answer….

4. Institutionalized Programs When welfare was first rolled out in the US what do you think the response was? Do you think the response to the welfare legislation was similar to what we just experiences with the health care reform bill? Yes if you take a look I think you will find that it was quite controversial… many thought of the modern welfare program as a socialist program… Why did people think the welfare program was considered a socialist program?

5. Institutionalized Programs What are the benefits of federal and state welfare programs today? What would our society look like without our modern welfare program?

6. Institutionalized Programs & Crime Would crime increase in our society? Why? If our welfare system helps to reduce crime related to the basic human needs… do we need more welfare? We still have a large amount of crime in these areas… thoughts?

7. Institutionalized Programs What are the drawbacks or the downside of our welfare system? Are taxes the biggest concern in terms of welfare? What does welfare look like in other cultures?

8. Institutionalized Programs What does the homeless problem look like in other cultures? Do any of you know about the welfare/homeless program in countries like Denmark? In Denmark the homeless do not live on the street… not at all… there are government programs and shelters for everyone…

9. Institutionalized Programs The welfare programs in Europe are all welfare to work programs… no one gets government support unless the work… and if they cannot do a number of government jobs then they can always pick up garbage on the side of the road…. Can you imagine what the US would look like if we took everyone on a welfare program and required them to work? Now many politicians, mostly democrats, have talked about these types of programs and making this type of HUGE welfare reform in the US… what do you think the main barriers are to this type of change? Would you all be willing to spend more in taxes to provide more structure and functionality to our welfare program?

10. Institutionalized Programs & Crime Would crime be less in the US if we had an expanded welfare program? Here is an interesting way to look at this issue…. If you take the countries of the UK, France, Spain, Australia, Italy, Portugal, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Finland, and the Netherlands… the population is roughly the size of the US….

11. Where do we start? Five minutes on the soap box with Dr. McCoy…